Page 59 of Packed in the Fire house

“I’m guessing he didn’t like that,” Rune grumbled.

“He did not,” Sunny confirmed. “But he was an alpha, so he couldn't get into the dormitories on campus, and when the time came for me to give birth, I didn't put his name on the birth certificate. The farther I got along in my pregnancy, the less interested he seemed to become. He was chasing after me a lot less and the nasty messages slowed down. It seems that, recently, he learned I had a son, and his interest has been somewhat renewed.”

I stared at this sweet omega as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She had endured so much. The person who was supposed to look after her had betrayed her in the worst ways.

Well, never again.

Sunny Sanderson wasouromega, and we were going to take damn good care of her.

“Well, now he has absolutely zero claim to Luka,” I said. “Even if he could take you to court for a DNA test, he can't take him. Legally speaking, Luka belongs to the pack.”

What I didn't say was, as head of the pack, technically his fate was in my hands. I wasn't cruel or an idiot. There was no way in hell I was going to do anything when it came to that child without Sunny’s express permission.

“I know, and I told him so, which seems to have prompted this new onslaught of abuse from him.”

“Block his number,” Rune commanded gruffly.

“I have several times, and yet he still finds new ways to message me. If he put as much thought into his schoolwork as he did into trying to track me down, he would have graduated long ago.”

“He sounds like a narcissist and a control freak. There's no way in hell he's going to just walk away. I'm not saying this to scare you, Sunny. Your problems are our problems now, and we will face them together,” I said, trying to maintain a reassuring tone when, in reality, I was livid.

Tears spilled over, and she furiously wiped at her face. “How can I ask you to help me when it comes to this? You didn't ask to be dragged into this mess!”

“Hey, we are all in, sunshine,” Blaze said, pulling her into his lap in one swift movement.

My hands itched to be the ones holding her, but I knew Blaze was probably the best choice in this situation because he seemed to have the best control over himself.

Rune and I were feeling murderous.

“You and Luka are ours to protect. You don't need to ask us—we want to,” I assured her.

“He's stupidly rich, though. He's got money and resources. He can drag us through court.”

I cocked my head to the side. “He could have before we officially bonded. When Luka didn't have a registered father, but now he does.”

“Will that really be enough to stop him?” Sunny asked in a small voice.

“It should be, but if he keeps coming around, trust me, we have friends who are lawyers and we are prepared to fight. That piece of shit doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as you, let alone have a claim to our son.”

It was the first time I’d referred to Luka asour son, but it felt so right. My chest burned with how correct it felt.

Gently tugging her out of Blaze’s grip, I wrapped her in my arms and held her close, breathing in that sweet lemon that was now mine to love and protect.

Gregory was a complication, one I hadn’t expected, but there was no way I was going to allow him to upset our omega.

Chapter 22

Rune

Wildfires.

They were an unfortunate reality of living on the West Coast, and as firefighters, we often got called in to help, even if we weren’t very close to the fire itself.

Wildfire shifts were different from other shifts—there was no set time on or off. You just worked until the fire was out because it was an ongoing emergency. So, when a fire broke out about three hours north of us, we got called in to support.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to go and stay there like a lot of firefighters, but we were still pulling more shifts than we normally would. The only silver lining was that we should get a little extra time off after the fire was put out to make up for the lack of rest we had during it.

For a solid week, it felt like I hardly got to see Sunny. We just returned to the firehouse to eat, shower, and sleep before going back out to the fire.

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